A Bone To Pick With You
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: T-Bone isn't happy that Cuphead defeated him and he lures the cup onto the train to teach him a lesson. A ticklish lesson, that is. :)


**Here is the Cuphead tickle story with T-Bone and Cuphead. Now, this is my first time writing T-Bone in a story, so please be gentle in the reviews. Thank you. :)**

 **Cuphead belongs to Studio MDHR. I own nothing.**

* * *

 **A Bone To Pick With You**

T-Bone narrowed his eyes as the train came to a stop at the station where he had picked up two kids, one a cup and one a mug, and they had battled him and defeated him, something he wasn't happy about. He glanced at the passengers, but found it was only a ghost looking to return home after visiting some relatives.

"Those kids," he growled to himself. Though he knew they had defeated the monster that had trapped many of the inhabitants of Inkwell Isles into his contracts, T-Bone's pride had taken a blow as he could usually take care of unruly passengers, but got his butt handed to him by a couple of kids.

At the next station, he growled at seeing Mugman was there, but the mug was looking for Specter, who was working on the train that day and looking for Mugman, greeting the young one warmly and inviting him aboard the caboose. Sighing, T-Bone got the train going, but a moment later, felt a light tap on his leg and looked down to see Mugman was standing there and looking up at him. "Mr. T-Bone, sir?" He asked timidly.

His timidness made the skeleton give him a curious look. "What is it, kid?" He asked.

To his surprise, the mug hugged him. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

All the snarky remarks he had been planning to say to the brothers vanished at Mugman's apology, but he also remembered that Mugman hadn't totally been gung-ho as his brother had been about fighting. Then again, if he remembered hearing right, the brothers' lives had been on the line too.

Sighing, he picked up the little mug. "You kids weren't fighting us just to pick fights, were you?" He asked.

Mugman shook his head. "That monster...made us choose between us or you guys," he said.

T-Bone sighed again, but gently patted the mug's head. "Where is your brother anyway?"

"He's at home with Elder Kettle," Mugman replied. "He's been...kinda quiet since we kicked that monster off the island."

"Hmm," the skeleton hummed. "Well, he and you still defeated me and my pride took quiet a blow. So I need to teach you two a lesson."

Mugman gulped as he was then trapped in T-Bone's grasp and the skeleton gave him an evil grin.

* * *

Cuphead was wondering where his brother was and had gone searching for him before a few of the residents told him they had seen the mug at the train station. Going there, he found a note addressed to himself.

 _Cuphead,_

 _If you want to see your brother again, meet the train at the last stop at the other end of the island. You have thirty minutes._

Worried, Cuphead wondered how he was going to get to the last train stop when he saw Grim Matchstick flying overhead and got an idea. "Grim! I need help!" He called out.

The dragon landed. "What's the matter, Cuphead?" He asked.

"Someone's kidnapped Mugman and is holding him at the last train stop," the cup said. "They're only giving me thirty minutes to get there, but I don't know how long the note's been here."

Grim nodded, seeing the dilemma. "Climb aboard my back," he said. "I'll fly you there. It'll take us a few minutes at most."

Grateful to the dragon who had forgiven him and his brother for battling him and for getting rid of the monster, Cuphead climbed aboard the dragon's back and held on as Grim took to the air, sailing fast to get to the last train stop. They soon arrived. "Hurry, Cuphead. I hear the train," Grim said.

"Thanks, Grim," the cup said gratefully and went to the boarding platform. The train soon pulled up and he climbed on, not seeing anyone yet. "Mugs? Are you here?"

A scream answered him. "HELP!" A familiar voice cried out.

Recognizing Mugman's voice, Cuphead began searching the cars for his brother.

T-Bone chuckled evilly. "Yes, he is on board," he said, turning to Mugman, who looked at him with wide eyes. "And I'll soon have your brother tied up like you."

Mugman gulped. T-Bone meant business and he only hoped the skeleton would be merciful to Cuphead. He had so far been merciful to Mugman, which had been a surprise when the skeleton had 'taught' the mug a lesson. It hadn't been the painful one the young one had been expecting.

"What are you going to do to my brother?" He asked T-Bone.

The skeleton grinned evilly. "Why, teach him the same lesson I taught you," he said, bony fingers wiggling into his neck with a surprising gentleness, making the young one giggle before he squealed again as the skeleton blew a raspberry into the exposed, sensitive stomach.

Hearing his brother scream again, Cuphead charged for the train car where he knew T-Bone was. It made sense that T-Bone had Mugman since Specter certainly wouldn't have kidnapped his nephews. Finding the car where T-Bone was, Cuphead charged inside, seeing Mugman tied up and looking at him. "Hang on, Mugs. I'm here," he said.

"Yes. Right into my trap, little cup."

A hand snatched him up and Cuphead let out a shout of surprise as T-Bone held him up by the back of his shirt. Specter soon appeared with a chuckle. "Well, Cuphead, looks like T-Bone has you caught," he said. "He's been meaning to talk to you."

With that, he picked up Mugman, who was still tied up. "While you do that, I'm looking forward to making this little one laugh himself silly," he continued, blue fingers gently wiggling into Mugman's side and he giggled.

Cuphead saw that his brother wasn't hurt, which made him wonder why he had been screaming earlier and he watched Specter and Mugman head out before feeling bony fingers poking his stomach playfully and he giggled, batting away the skeleton's hand. "Oh, no," the conductor chuckled. "I've got a bone to pick with you, Cuphead, and you're not escaping me until I've taught you a lesson."

The cup was confused until T-Bone lifted up the boy's dark shirt to expose his stomach and blew a big raspberry right smack dab in the center of the stomach. Cuphead squealed loudly and then realized what had happened earlier. Mugman wasn't screaming in pain. T-Bone had tickled him too, just as Specter was now doing.

"I've got you now, you little scamp," the skeleton chuckled, his bony fingers wiggling into the boy's sides and underarms, making him laugh some more.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed.

"Cootchie, cootchie, coo!" T-Bone cooed, blowing another raspberry into Cuphead's stomach. "Had I known you and your brother were ticklish, I would have asked Specter to bring you both here long ago."

The longer the tickle torture went on, the more Cuphead was convinced that T-Bone had been messing around with him and Mugman and wouldn't hurt them. Finally, T-Bone stopped tickling his captive and the boy panted to catch his breath before looking up at the skeleton, who gave him a warm smile. "You weren't really going to hurt Mugman, were you?" The cup asked.

"Of course not," T-Bone chuckled. "You boys beat me fair and square, but then went above and beyond to get rid of that monster."

"Well, we owed you guys at least that after it was our fault that you got put in that mess," Cuphead admitted, looking ashamed.

"Eh, that monster would have sent one of his own minions after us then, instead of you two," the skeleton said. "And believe me, his minions wouldn't have hesitated to give him what he wanted. You boys showed him that you weren't going to betray your friends and family to save your skins."

The kind words helped the cup perk up and he saw Specter come into the train car with Mugman in his arms. "Gotta say though, I was worried when I heard Mugman scream," he admitted.

Mugman blushed in embarrassment. "He wouldn't stop blowing raspberries into my stomach," he said.

"Which seems to tickle you boys to pieces," T-Bone said, playfully scooping them up and tickling them both, making them laugh and squeal as he blew raspberries into their stomachs again.

Specter watched with a chuckle before 'rescuing' the two boys from the skeleton. "T-Bone would have never hurt you boys, even in that battle," he said. "Like many of us, we knew what position you were both in."

"Still, we are sorry, T-Bone," Cuphead said regretfully.

"Eh, let's bury the hatchet, kids," the conductor said. "You two learned a huge lesson from the experience and...I hate to say this...but if it hadn't been for you boys making that deal with the monster, well...then we'd all still be trapped with no chance of being free. So, something good came out of a bad idea. Not that I'm encouraging you two to try something like that again."

"No way," Mugman said. "Once around that was scary."

"That's for sure," Cuphead agreed.

T-Bone smiled at Specter, who smiled and nodded. "Hey, why don't you boys help me run the train?" The skeleton said.

They lit up. "Really?" Mugman asked.

The train gave a couple toots in reply. "Sounds like Mad Train likes that idea," Specter said.

"Then how about you boys be my junior conductors?" T-Bone said.

They instantly agreed, their grins huge as they knew they had not only gained a new friend in the skeleton, but a new family member too.

* * *

 **Well, that was interesting to write. :)**

 **Please leave a review, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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